ABSTRACT

Using student-level longitudinal data from one large urban school district, I examine Long-term English Learners’ (LTELs) characteristics and their linguistic and academic performance in comparison to on-track English learners and initially fluent students. I also investigate what factors are related to their becoming LTELs. This study focuses on English learners (ELs) whose home language is Spanish, the major language group in the district. The findings indicate LTELs often have disadvantaged characteristics and underperform against non-LTELs across grades, and ELs with disabilities are more likely to become LTELs than other ELs. Not all ELs with the highest initially English proficiency avoided becoming LTELs, which provides implications on the EL classification and programs.

摘要

使用来自一个大型城市学区的学生水平的纵向数据，我研究了长期英语学习者（LTEL）的特征及其与在职英语学习者和最初流利的学生相比的语言和学术表现。我还将调查哪些因素与其成为LTEL有关。这项研究的重点是英语学习者（EL），其母语为西班牙语，是该地区的主要语言群体。研究结果表明，LTELs在各个级别上通常都具有劣势，并且与非LTELs相比表现不佳，并且与其他ELs相比，残疾ELs更可能成为LTELs。并非所有英语水平最高的EL都会避免成为LTEL，这会影响EL的分类和课程。